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India On Media |
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| Politics
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| US soldier to be charged with 17 |
| US soldier to be charged with 17 Afghan murders
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 23-March-2012
5:1:39 AM |
| A US soldier will be charged with 17 counts of murder stemming from the killings of civilians in a rampage in southern Afghanistan, a US official said on Thursday.
The official, confirming the murder charges on condition of anonymity, also said Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales would be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder.
Mr Bales, 38, is alleged to have walked out of his base in the southern province of Kandahar under cover of darkness on March 11 and killed 17 people in two nearby villages, including women and children, and burning some of their bodies. He later returned to his base and gave himself up.
The charges were raised by the number of deaths reported immediately after the atrocity, which plunged relations between the United States and Afghanistan to their lowest point in a decade of war.
The killings came at an already tense time for US-Afghan ties after the burning of Qurans by Americans, deadly anti-American protests and an earlier video that showed US Marines urinating on the bloodied corpses of Taliban militants.
US officials had pledged a swift and thorough investigation, and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said Bales could face the death penalty if convicted. The soldier's motives remain unknown.
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